Sunday, January 17, 2010

" Hi Malik the magic guy for expertvillage.com. Now one of the basic things that you are going to have to do a lot if you are having cards selected is spreading the cards between your hands. Now you can use the fan just like I've showed you, but what a lot of people would do is spread the cards like this to have a card selected. Now there is two ways to do it. You can either spread the cards like this so they keep moving. So they are kind of going by like a conveyor belt for someone to reach in and take one. The way that you want to do that is underneath I'm feeding my cards with my thumb up here and then underneath I'm using my first and second finger to kind of walk across the cards this way. So from the top it looks like this, and that could kind of give you some motion, and it is a nice way to have them select a card. Now if you want a more static style spread, what is going to happen—I'm going to grab with my opposing thumb here and I'm going to pull across like this. As i pull across, I'm going to extend the fingers on my hands like this. So what happens is I got this situation. Now in the middle the cards are actually holding themselves in place. So it is actually tough to hold it up like this, but you can see... so basically it is just kind of trying to get a shot underneath here the fingers are extended out, holding up the cards just like that. And that is a nice way, if a hand was going to reach in and take a card just like that, or if you were going to have a hand reach across and take one from a moving spread of cards just like that. That is two ways to spread card in between your hands."

Saturday, January 16, 2010

"Today we are going to learn how to predict the future. This is another prediction, you can use, we are playing card games, you just need two decks, you explain to them that you have a prediction in here, you will show later, but for now you are just going to give the deck a shuffle and you are going to get through the deck, whenever they stop, that is where you will stop at, you just keep on like this, and they will say stop, you show them the card that they have stopped at, which in this case is 10 of spades, tell them to remember it and close the deck up set is aside, have them open the pack of cards, so when they open it and take them out, tell them just to thumb through them face down and they will go through all the cards and you just say keep going and they will get through a red card, and if you notice it is the only red card that is in this pack and when they turn it over, you will find out that it is the actual card that they stopped at."

"Today we are going to learn how to predict the future. This is the explanation for the colored back prediction. The set up is you are just going to take a card out of a different colored back than the blue back, which will always be red and stick it anywhere on the deck you want, just remember what it is and in this is case it is the 10 of spades, put it back in the box and set it aside, that portion is done, you can just have them hold on to that. The only set up you will need to do with the actual deck is have the card that you want them to select on the bottom of the deck and give it a shuffle, when you shuffle just make sure the pack that you have has the 10 of spades on it that is the first card to get down and you shuffle it up like that, so it is always going to stay on the bottom, be careful not to flash the bottom card and that way they just feel the deck is thoroughly mixed and to force the card on them, to get them the pick the 10 of spades, you are going to do the hindu shuffle, in which you will just hold the deck from the top and the hand comes up from underneath, it is going to take small packets off the top of the deck like that until they say stop, whenever they feel free to say stop, you are actually going to show them the bottom card, done slow, you can see what is happening, but when you get practice you can grab the cards like this and do a hindu shuffle, it just looks like you are shuffling the cards until I say stop and I stop you at that card and it is always going to be the card that you put on the bottom, so you just tell them to remember it, keep it in their mind and set the deck aside from there, you will have them go ahead and open the pack and get the cards out, just tell them to thumb through them face down like that and as they go through they are really not sure what is going to happen, so when they see that there is a red card in there they will stop and you just tell them to set it aside and go ahead and take a look at it and when they look at it and realize it matches their card, they will be really shocked for a couple of reasons, one they thought they had a free choice from a shuffled deck, two it is a different colored back than the packet it came out of, which makes it in their mind undeniable and there cannot be a chance, there is no chance for failure this had to been it and that’s why it is really hard, so give it a try and have fun with it."

Friday, January 15, 2010

"Today we are going to learn how to predict the future. Another part of the predictions, this is the actual warmup in fact this is not necessarily prediction, but you only use it before you get into doing your prediction as you just tell somebody to hold up their hand, just relax and make sure they are not like this, this is a relaxed hand, and you tell them beforehand what you are going to do, you are going to take your index finger and press on each tip of their fingers, but what you want them to do is just keep their hands relaxed and concentrate on any of the fingers and just keep concentrating on it before when you touch it, this is relaxed. So say for example, they are thinking of a finger, you touch on all of them and then you can tell them you are thinking of your ring finger and you will be correct."

"Today we are going to learn how to predict the future. This will explain like why this will work 99 times out of 100 this will work. When their hand is held up and it is relaxed and you press on the fingers, if they are thinking about like their index finger for example and they know what you are going to do ahead of time, this finger will have more resistance when you push on it than all the other fingers do, consciously they are not aware of that, it is a subconscious thing, that they cannot control, it is a neural muscle thing and as long as you tell them beforehand, what you are going to do it will work, if you do not tell them, what you are going to do you just tell them to just think of a finger and you start pressing on it, you are going to change their concentration to what is he doing with my fingertips, they are going to completely forget about their fingers altogether and it will not workout. So when you tell them ahead of time I am going to be pressing on the tips of your fingers, I just want you to concentrate on one, do not change, do not break the concentration as I press on them and just stay relaxed, that is when it will work because they subconsciously cannot control that even if they consciously try to fool you out, if it does not work that 1% chance that it does not work, it is a warm up effect to do a prediction or to foretell the future and you want to pick somebody that is going to be the best, if it does work out use them because they are naturally going to be interested and more suggestible, they’re going to have a better time than somebody else skeptical about the whole thing that you are doing anyway."

Thursday, January 14, 2010

"Today we are going to learn how to predict the future. This is another number thing. You just need a pad of paper and a pen and another person. You are going to write down a prediction, a number they think they will name, place that face down and tell them to think of any two digit number, make sure it is an odd number and both digits are different, so we will think something, say 37 and oddly enough your prediction will match 37."

"Today we are going to learn how to predict the future. This trick is something you can use as a warmup, it is not always going to work, 9 times out of 10 it will work all the time, for some reason, no one says any other number, that is always going to say 37, so one of the weird thing, we need to tell somebody to think of a two digit number, make sure it is an odd number both digits are different, the first thing they come to instead of 17 are another random odd number with two different digits they will say 37, 9 out of 10 times, and the reason why I say you want to warm up with this as you are going to present it, you’re out, we are going to just find somebody that is on the same wavelength as you, so that you can work on them to make predictions and if does not work you will just use somebody else and you will just go into the effect you intend to do, you just forget the 37 thing, 9 times out of 10, you are going to find a person that is going to say 37, it is one of those weird things that you can try it out, anywhere you are at, just you do not even have to have a pad or paper or pen, just name a two digit number, both digits odd, both digits different, they will say 37. So have a good time with it."

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

"Hi, my name is Sean Graham on behalf of Expert Village. Trick number 3. As you can see we a table and a glass. Now here is the point of the trick what I'm going to ask you is "oh question for a drink do you think that the height of this glass from here to here is bigger is bigger from here to here?" Is the height from the glass to here to here is bigger then the glass from here to here? What do you think? Most people say this is bigger. So if you would accept the answer to that what would you do if I did this. Now which is bigger from here to here or from here to here? Let's up the stakes up a little bit more. So if I did this now I have a ashtray, my phone, glass so what do you think is bigger from here to here or from here to here? You decide. "

"Hi, my name is Sean Graham on behalf of Expert Village. Trick number 3 solution. Remember the bet I asked you this, is it bigger from here to here or from here to here. Let's see here is a solution we would just move this down here for a second. Take a piece of tissue like this, wrap the tissue around the glass nice and tight. Take a pen, tissue is nice and tight you can see where it ends. Put a nice strong line like this. Now put the glass on top of the phone, take the tissue and there you have it. There is your proof, there is your mark the glass is bigger from here to here, then from here to here. "

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

"Hi, my name is Sean Graham on behalf of Expert Village. Sponsor by expertvillage.com. Today we are talking about getting a free drink from your friends trick number 2. So here we have 2 shot glasses on the table. 1 shot glass behind it full of a drink. The point of this trick is I'm going to take this note, I'm going to put it across the glasses and put this glass in the middle with just with just using the note. Can it be done? It can be done, would you buy me a drink? "

"Hi, my name is Sean Graham on behalf of Expert Village. Today we are talking about getting a free drink from your friends. Trick number 2 solution. So if you remember what are going to need is 2 shot glasses, take a note and support the drink. How can it be done? Simple like this I would show you. First all what we do is we take the note and we fold it like this, turn it over fold it again the same width. Then again and again repeating until we the whole note. Again, crease, again, and one last time. Until we have that that is what we are left with right there like a bridge. We put the glass back in a distance, put my money over the top and then you take the drink and balance it on the top. That you can see there is nothing touching the glass and the glass is being supported. Trick number 2. "

Monday, January 11, 2010

"Hi, my name is Sean Graham on behalf of Expert Village. In this segment I'm going to show you trick number one. As you can see I have 2 glasses here on the table. What we do is you take one glass and put it inside the other glass like so. You can leave this one up or you can turn upside down like this or you can lay them flat like this. Now which ever way you choose to have the glasses once you have them in the position that you want you must then part the glasses without touching them. Could it be done? "

"Hi, my name is Sean Graham on behalf of Expert Village. In this segment I'm going to show you the solution to trick number one. Okay as you remember the trick is to part the glasses without touching them. So you can have the glasses together like this or upside down or underside. You must remove the glasses without touching them. Here is the solution. What we do is to lay the glasses down on the edge of the table like this. Then quiet simply only is to blow, simple. Trick done. "

Sunday, January 10, 2010

"Hi, Tim Mannix, professional magician teaching you a party trick. This is easy. You will like it. It works for some people but not for others but it is great for a party if you just want to laugh. It is the incredible, the astounding, and mysterious floating ball. Some people don’t like this. If it really does not work for you just use it for soup.

It works either way. Use it for soup that is it. You like it? I would tell you the secret but there is not much of a secret but if you are going to do this come walk into the living room from the dining room or from another room because you got to tuck that ladle under and truth is you got to bend it a little because most ladles are kind of a different angle.

If you can do that or bring your own ladle. I mean if you are that, whatever, or if they don’t know about it, bend their silverware. That is all you are doing tucking under like that, putting it right on your wrist right there. It looks great from the front. You have to watch your angles but if you move your bottom hand a little tiny bit because it is pivoting right on the base of your hand there.

It looks kind of great. From the side you can see it would not work but people kind of get silent and then when you deliver the tag line and say if that does not work for you, just use it for soup. They will laugh or stare at you and wonder what you are doing at the party but whatever."

Saturday, January 9, 2010

"Hi, Tim Mannix, Professional Magician, back again to teach you a magic trick on behalf of Expert Village, because I always teach a trick. Because people love learning tricks like you are now. Something I tell them is, well I won’t even tell you the name.

The name would give it away but you will love this. Okay? Really, really awesome. Oh, oh, hang on just a second. Oh, hang on, ooh wow. Ooh, a neck thing. Ooh, let me clear this up. Be right back. Better. Thanks for your concern though. All right actually the secret.

Now this will send people to the moon. They will roll over laughing. If you do this to your mom in the kitchen profile she will scream her guts out. It is kind of the affect we are looking for some times. Watch this. All you’re doing is putting a cup under your arm.

Now not any plastic cup but a cup that will bust into pieces. Very dramatic. This one people love this one. Slays them. You can even do it to another person. All you are going to get is one of these cups. By the way at the nicer parties all they have is glass so bring your own cup.

Much better. Al right? You are hanging out, do it for folks that have not seen it before, get someone in on the gag with you. They are in cohorts. As they walk into the door you are going to greet them. Back a big deal. Hey Bob, how are you. Good to see you. People say what is it with that guy. Okay.

You are going to do this profile they don’t know that that cup is under your arm and you can even say to Bob, if Bob was here, I would just put my hands around his head and when you twist his head, it really looks like you destroyed his neck. I have kids do this to their mom. They go mom, my neck hurts, wah, she screams, sends her to the moon. It’s great. You will love it. Do it."

Friday, January 8, 2010

"Hi, my name is Tim Mannix and I am a professional magician here in Los Angeles, California and I am going to be teaching you some magic tricks and showing you some tricks and generally talking about what to look if you are interested in doing magic tricks, performing magic tricks or just watching magic tricks.

I am going to show you some of my very favorite magic tricks because that is actually my first tip. Okay. If you are interested in doing a trick, do something you like because it will read, show through to the audience. Okay? Here is one of the things I do. It is kind of one of my signature pieces and I hope you will enjoy it. I ask the audience if they know what that is.

Most people will say, yeah, yeah, its water. Some kids jump to conclusion and they will say oh, it is magic water. It’s not magic water yet until you guys out there throw the magic dust. Throw it at the screen; whatever you are watching this on goes inside of the water and it is inside there now. I filled it full of tap water which here it makes it water from California. Now, I don’t know about your state but here that makes it almost drinkable.

Looks like a 50/50 chance that it is drinkable. You just have to watch and look and you did reach out into the air and grab something and throw it in there. I am growing to grab one out of there, put it right into my fist. I have to listen and make sure that you really did get one. That’s great. Yeah. Always double check your math. We had 0, you guys reached out in the air and you got 1, theatrically of course but 0 + 1 is 1 but always no matter it is simple or difficult. Always double check. Here it is.

0+1 is really really 1, whoa, it really really is 1 and there you can see that is called a Beta Fish and it is still alive. Yeah, a Siamese fighting fish they call that and some people say that is just not a Beta fish that is magic. Of course it is a great trick. That is why I do it and I love it and the audience reaction is always a Wow. When you are doing magic again like I said previously always do something that you like.

It always reads through. Okay, it’s much like an actor on stage. A magician is honestly an actor playing the part of a magician cause there is no such thing as a magician. So you really need to sell all that you are doing magic when you are up here and part of it is enjoying it. If you are having a good time your audience will have a good time too.

I would like to get right to the point because the real magic is when the fish appears so you can build it up, play with the audience, you can see if they know a magic word. The magic word I always teach especially kids is presto bismol. It makes them laugh and the parents get a kick out of it. So everybody says presto bismol.

Generally the birthday child or maybe all of the kids go ahead and throw the magic toward me, I catch it, and I pour out the fish and wham bam, thank you mam. There is the Beta fish and I pour into a cup, give it to the guest or honor and everybody is happy."

Thursday, January 7, 2010

"Hi, my name is Tim Mannix and I am a professional magician and you guys are going to learn right now a card trick because half the fun of doing magic is learning new tricks. So this is a trick I do all of the time. I don’t do it because some people say that is a simple trick.

Some of the simplest tricks are the very best. Simplicity seems to play really well. This is also contained in my idol book called Eight Simple Card Tricks you can do. I sell it on a website called Birthday Magic Tricks so you could get it there if you wanted to but it is actually called Fantastic Five.

It goes like this. You have someone select a card. I have already taken the deck out of the box but theoretically the deck is inside there. You pull it out. You have someone from the audience select a card. Ooh look there is a person now. They will actually step up and remove a card.

Here comes the hand, the magic hand. Okay, they remove that card. They are going to go ahead and show it to you the camera. I will turn around here that way I don’t actually see the card because this is actually what would occur during the magic show. Now I am turning back around.

Don’t let the magician see the card. All I do is half the deck like that. I take the top half and put it on the table. Now the spectator puts their card right on the top there. That way. Perfect. This is called completing the cut. The rest of the deck goes right on top.

Now the chosen card the spectator has selected is sandwiched in the middle of the deck. Works really great. Do something magical. Okay? I liked to crimp the deck like this. Beautiful. What that does this is a classic in magic. It flips the chosen card the opposite way. It is really an effective trick. Watch this. You can thumb through these if you are fancy shmancy.

You can do the whole table thing. I will do the table spread in the minute. You will see how that works. What happens though, look at that. The only card facing the opposite way is the spectator’s card. Is that it? That’s not it! Shocking! Oh, that’s right, every once in a while these crop up. That is called a magical indicator card.

In some circles it is called a mick. Never mind that. Okay? Not their card but note the number. It is 5 this time. If that is really a magical indicator card you count down 5 cards. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and if it is magical indicator card the 5th card when you turn that over that should be the spectator’s card. Now sometimes people are not impressed.

These people are called inexpressible. All you do is you turn over the 4 middle cards and those will be, yep, the 4 aces. Fantastic Five. Thanks. "

"Hi, Tim Mannix on behalf of Expert Village. You just saw Fantastic Five. Now you are going to learn how it is done. Here is the setup alright? You are going to pick a 5. It does not matter what 5. I like to use a red 5 and then you are going to remove the 4 aces from the deck.

There is only going to be one card that is turned over. Alright, that is going to be the 5. It is going to go on the bottom of the card deck. Okay, it is upside down facing up. Everything else facing down and the 4 aces are also on the bottom. They are not facing down. They are facing the same way as the rest of the deck.

So I will spread it out and you can see there is the entire deck and there is the 5 face up right on top of the 4 aces there on the bottom. I will set this up when people go into the other room or something and I will lay it on the table. Especially if it is their deck and you have been playing poker or something, it is perfect. Mind if I use your deck?

Yaya Previously set up. Don’t shuffle it because no one questions it. We say in the magic world don’t run if you are not being chased. See remember you are the magician. You are in control. Please select a card. Someone will step forward. Look there is one now. He will actually come forward and take a card, pick a card, any card. He takes the card.

Always, always, always have that person that selects the card show it to other people. I can’t tell you how many times I have done a card trick and the person will say. I forgot the card. Here is what you do. Come back and make sure you don’t catch a glimpse of the card.

All you do. Remember your aces are on the bottom. You cut the deck in half. Put the top half on the table. Indicate to them. They will put the chosen card right there and you just casually mention I am going to complete the cut. That is the technical expert phrase. I am going to complete the cut. Now do something magical. Remember you are a magician. Remember your card will be the only card that turns opposite. It will be face up.

All the other cards will be faced down. Be as serious as you can and just casually go through the cards. People will generally jump up on you like a duck on a June bug. That’s not it. So this is when I really try to sell it like isn’t that great. Isn’t that incredible. What a great card trick. Then they reluctantly say that’s not my card.

What do you mean this is not your card. Oh, that is a magical indicator card. Let me note the number. They don’t know this card always comes up. It’s always a 5. Okay. Well I will note the number. I count down that many. Now count down. These are your aces. 1,2,3,4,5 because unbeknownst to them you have placed the aces on top of their chosen card.

When you turn the card over it really will be the chosen card and as a kicker that is another professional magician’s term. A kicker is one more thing on a end of a trick. When you turn the 4 middle cards over, the 4 aces will be revealed. And that is Fantastic 5. Hope you enjoy it. "

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

"Hi, back again. Tim Mannix, LA’s premier magician. We are going to learn the three cup challenge. You want to do this with plastic because if one of them falls then everybody is still happy. Okay? Watch me carefully.

They will always say of course I will. You got to do what I do. Of course I will. Great. I am going to turn two cups at a time three times. Do exactly as I do. You will be able to do this too. Here is how it works. I do it underhanded. Two, two and two and that is how the cups should end up.

Mouth up as if you were pouring something in each one of them. That is how they should end up. Now you ask the person do you think you can do that. Of course they will say absolutely. And you say please try. And even if they get the sequence right. Here is what they do. Watch this. Two, two and two. Wait a minute. They are supposed to end of mouth up. That is kind of weird.

Now I recommend you don’t do this too often because they will catch on. They are really bright people and there are a lot of them will catch on about the third time. Sometimes the second. What? You want to know the secret? I am telling you right now. Here it is. Okay.

The middle glass determines where the cups end up. So if the middle glass is down, the cups will end up mouth down. If the middle glass is turned up all three cups provided you are doing the sequence correctly will all end up mouth up. So when you start the magician the cups are like this. Okay. Now remember you are going to grab the middle one and one of the ends. It doesn’t matter which one. You have to go back to those same two.

Then you are going to turn the two ends. Then you are going to go back to the middle one and the two you turned in the beginning. That is the sequence. When the setup is like this and you that sequence, the cups end of mouth up. But here what happens. Here is the trick. Then you say to the spectator. It’s your turn. You want to try? All you do is great, go ahead.

Please. I just set this up completely opposite. Remember what I said this one determines where they will end up. They don’t pay attention to how the setup is they just know it is opposite and it is kind of an optical illusion. Okay.

Even if they remember the sequence because the cups were set up incorrectly there’s will end up mouth down. You either do it one time or maybe twice when you come back. Again, I’m going to try. Look what I do.

See so I have set it up right for me. It will end up great as it should. Here is where people are generally playing close attention so be careful. You can generally get away with it a second time but it is a fun trick and great party trick and just good time fillers. So have a good time with it."

"Hi, Tim Mannix, LA’s favorite magician depends on who you ask. But anyway, we are going to learn a couple more party tricks. These are fun to do, easy to do and simple. You will love it. This one is called a betcha, a lala, where is the betcha.

I got a betcha rope. Hang on just a second. Got to step off stage and get the betcha rope. There it is. This is great. You can do this with a rope or silk ribbon or anything during a holiday party, Christmas party a strand of ribbon.

Bet somebody I betcha I can tie a knot in the middle of this without letting go of either end. Betcha 10 bucks. Get the 10 bucks. That is the hardest part of it. Okay. Have them lay it on the table.

I cannot begin to tell you how long people have tried this for an hour. Now remember the rules are you can grab it anyway you want. I don’t care how you grab it but once you grab it you cannot release your grip on it. Can’t use your fingers. Some how, some way you got to tie a knot.

Okay. It is impossible unless you know the secret. So remind people they will start tying the knot, they will do it the same old way but you cannot do it that way. Can’t use your fingers, can’t release your grip.

That is the most important thing, don’t release your grip. Remind them, stand over them, and then let them smolder over it for an hour and half. They will finally come back to you; I can’t do this, what is this, hey, because they want to win their 10 bucks back. Fine I will do it.

I will do what I said in order to win the 10 bucks. Remember the rules. Doesn’t matter how I grab it that is the first rule. Once I grab it, I did not tell you that one, you must not let go. So, can’t let go, maintain the grip, grab it anyway you want it.

Here is the secret like most good tricks the secret is simple. That is the secret. When you fold your arms don’t cross them. A lot of people make the mistake of doing this number.

Don’t cross them, fold them. Don’t think about it. Just fold them. When you naturally fold your arms one hand ends up on the top and one hand ends up on the bottom.

All you do right in front of them is lean down and grab one end of the rope with a hand underneath, grab the other end of the rope with a hand on top. Remember I said that it does not matter how I grab it but I will not let go of it.

Once I start doing my thing, all you do is pull your arms apart and a knot ties right in the middle. Just like that. All you do grab the 10 bucks say see you later sucker. "

"Hi, Tim Mannix, Professional Magician here at Expert Village. I wanted to show you one more trick because I like and it is fun. Don’t you really want to learn one more trick? Here it is. This is great. You could especially do this at a party because party cups are so plentiful. So set this up just so and again just like any good magician, you are going to want to sell the trick.

Okay. Really make them believe I am going to do a magic trick. Just watch this and really sell it. All you are going to do is hold onto it and concentrate. As you begin to move your hands away, they will be able to see that this cup oh wow, literally began to float. Sometimes if you don’t hang onto it, it will float away on you. You have to be careful.

The trick honestly is put it on your thumb. It is great. If you sell it and you watch your angles. All I am doing showing you what is happening behind here is I you don’t have to put your whole thumb in there just the tip. This has a nice bite on it. So I kind of feel like a bird like you do a shadow like that. Keep them together.

Once it is on the base you can kind of move these away. I don’t know why this sells so well but it just does. People want to believe that that cup is floating. Oh my god and then at one point let it almost get away. That is how you sell it. Studied pantomime a long time ago but play with it in a mirror and really put your focus right on that cup.

If you believe oh it’s really I’m kind of over reacting oh it’s really floating. Wow Part of the trick to is reveal that because it gets a great laugh. It does. Have fun with this and always always enjoy the magic you are doing and they will enjoy you too. Thanks. "

Sunday, January 3, 2010

"Hey, it’s Tim Mannix, Magician, back again on behalf of Expert Village. Let a little time elapse. That is why magicians will often recap. We go back over what just occurred so that the person can’t back track in their mind and say wait a minutes, what happed. You shuffled it as much as you wanted. Isn’t that right? They will say sure. Great. I want to be sure this is fair.

Would you please (now all you are going to do is hold the top and the bottom) and you are going to ask the spectator to remove that block of cards. Would you please pull out the middle pile and just look at the bottom card of that pile. Okay. That is the card I want you to remember.

That is the selected card. Okay. Great. Now from this point on, they think they have selected a card at random. They shuffle the deck and divided into three piles on their own and they don’t know the difference.

They don’t know that you forced this card upon them. Okay. Now what we call a card revelation and that is another magician’s term that is when we reveal the selected card. Now sometimes we have a version in a pretty frame, sometimes we have written it on a note and passed it to the audience, this is my prediction. Please. It is now in a sealed envelope.

We can reveal a card in a hundred ways. You are just going to look through the cards and find an 8 of Hearts and look at them and really study them. Look in their eyes. It is kind of like you are trying to read all showmanship.

I think the card you selected was the 8 of Hearts. Was it and of course, they will say Yes. They will think you are amazing. Don’t tell them otherwise. Remember a good magician never reveals his secrets and that is how you force a card and then reveal it. "

Saturday, January 2, 2010

"Hi Tim Mannix ,LA magician, back again teaching you magic tricks, techniques, and tips on behalf of Expert Village. I want to teach you because I really think it is important how to force a card.

If you are going to be a magician one of the primary things you are going to want to do is magic tricks with cards and people kind of expect you at least on some level to be able to do a couple of card tricks so best thing you can do is give somebody else the deck. They will shuffle the deck.

Now watch this. Most people will shuffle the deck like this. You are sitting over there where I am. You have handed the deck across the table to them. Just watch them shuffle the deck. They will shuffle much like this.

Then they will square the deck back up. Are you getting a good glimpse of the card right there? That is the 3 of Diamonds. Okay. They don’t know that you have seen that card but they want to make good and sure that card is shuffled in. Most people will shuffle the same way so the same card keeps ending up on the bottom.

It doesn’t matter what the card is. Let’s say we want to make sure the person selects the 8 of Hearts. After they have shuffled the deck good and plenty they will place it back in front of you. Ask them if they will please divide this deck into three piles and let them do it however you want.

So they might do like so, like that, may take a little bit off of the top and that is what they do. Now notice it doesn’t matter how they do it, the bottom card always remain the same. They might shuffle it around every which way but as long as you know which pile the 8 of Hearts is in.

That is the card we are going to force. Okay. Now once they have done that all you do is take that pile the one with the force card and put it (we call it the criss cross forest because you are going to put that piece criss cross to the other. They you are going to take the third pile and put it just like so.

So it is in lined with the first. So as you can see that it is why we would call it the criss cross forest. Remember the pile with the card that we want to force is in the middle. Now very important. You will learn this later as you develop your magic technique and skill. "

Tim Mannix

Tim Mannix is one L.A.'s busiest variety arts entertainers specializing in family entertainment and corporate events. Originally from Oklahoma City, his interest in magic began at the age of eight when he received Marshall Brodien's TV Magic Set for Christmas. Tim spent much of his youth practicing and studying the ancient art of magic, later becoming a demonstrator at a local magic shop, then working a stint as an onstage assistant to local magician, Marlowe the Magician. A member of The Society of American Magicians, International Magicians Society and past President of Hollywood Ring #21 of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Tim's experience includes everything from adult performances with his stand-up comedy magic act to tickling the funny bones of birthday party children. Tim Mannix resides in Hollywood, California. To find out more about Tim, visit his website at http://www.funamazingmagic.com or http://www.birthdaymagictricks.com.